CompuServe Messages

There are already many optimizations in 3DS for elements of scenes that don't change, but what you're talking about is quite a bit more complex than you might think. (In fact, there are no rendering packages that can do that.) This is because things like shadows and reflections are highly inter-object dependant. There IS a way for you to use Video Post to make your rendering process incredibly efficient, compared to raw rendering of entire scenes. Just set up your scenes as VP layers, and when you need to make a change to a layer, all you've got to do is render the objects on that layer. Martin Foster utilizes this technique heavily, and it saves him HOURS of time. He'd be a great person to ask about specifics. – G